Their paths mirror each other: both engineers, both passionate about the mountains, both joining Leonardo at a young age shortly after completing their degrees and master’s studies. Sara Trotta, Head of Engineering Function at Leonardo’s Genoa Sestri Ponente site, began her career in the company a few years ahead of Giada Paolucci, a 31-year-old Mechanical Technical Leader/BIM Specialist in the automation sector. As a result, Sara is Giada’s line manager. Together, they share – enthusiastically – their professional and personal growth at Leonardo.

Sara Trotta joined the company in 2012 as a consultant and has rapidly progressed over the years. Now approaching 40, she leads a team of 150 engineers and technicians working on automated systems for parcel and baggage handling. In 2024, she received the Automation Innovation Award: “A great achievement,” she explains, “because innovation applied to the design-to-cost process enables integrated optimisation of the value chain in automation, covering every stage of the production cycle, from design through to delivery of the final product.” Engineering expertise combined with innovation are the cornerstones for ensuring efficiency, safety and reliability – whether in baggage and parcel handling systems for airports, or in the e-commerce sector. A significant professional growth journey for Sara, developed alongside her personal life: “I have never had to give anything up. I have a husband and two children, and all of this has happened during my time at Leonardo, without having to compromise. I am grateful to the mentors I have met here, who have always encouraged me to keep going, and to my team – made up of outstanding people with whom it is a pleasure to work.”

Giada Paolucci is part of that 150-strong team, around 25% of whom are women – a figure set to grow, in line with the positive trend of recent years. Like Sara, Giada joined Leonardo as a consultant and, in 2024, was hired based on her skills and potential to work on the mechanical layout of automation systems. Six months ago, she relocated to Dallas: “I am now the focal point for my sector in the United States, and I am thrilled: few people have the opportunity to bring to life what they have previously only studied on paper.” The projects she finds most rewarding, she says, are those related to baggage handling systems at Houston and Melbourne airports. For her, Leonardo is “the ideal place to grow – a context where people truly make the difference. Supporting young talent, also at an international level, is an extraordinary opportunity.”

One based in Genoa and the other in Dallas, Sara and Giada speak about people, trust, quality of work and commitment. Both are passionate about sport: Sara enjoys ski mountaineering, while Giada is keen on rock climbing. Their shared love of the mountains reflects a common drive to take on new challenges every day. For them, the old mountaineers’ saying always holds true: “Rest is not idleness; changing one form of effort for another is rest.”